CHICAGO GAY AND LESBIAN HALL OF FAME 2001

City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations

Richard M. Daley Clarence N. Wood Mayor Chair/Commissioner

Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues

William W. Greaves Laura A. Rissover Director/Community Liaison Chairperson Ó 2001 Hall of Fame Committee. All rights reserved.

COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues 740 North Sedgwick Street, 3rd Floor Chicago, Illinois 60610

312.744.7911 (VOICE) 312.744.1088 (CTT/TDD) Www.GLHallofFame.org 1 2 3 CHICAGO GAY AND LESBIAN HALL OF FAME

The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame is both a historic event and an exhibit. Through the Hall of Fame, residents of Chicago and our country are made aware of the contributions of Chicago's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) communities and the communities’ efforts to eradicate homophobic bias and discrimination.

With the support of the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations, the Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues established the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in June 1991. The inaugural induction ceremony took place during Pride Week at City Hall, hosted by Mayor Richard M. Daley. This was the first event of its kind in the country.

The Hall of Fame recognizes the volunteer and professional achievements of people of the LGBT communities, their organizations, and their friends, as well as their contributions to their communities and to the city of Chicago. This is a unique tribute to dedicated individuals and organizations whose services have improved the quality of life for all of Chicago's citizens.

Induction into the Hall of Fame symbolizes that the recipient either has made a contribution with far-reaching effects on the quality of life for Chicago's LGBT communities or the city of Chicago, or has made a significant long-term contribution to the well-being of Chicago's LGBT communities. The selection of inductees for the Hall of Fame is made by former recipients of the award based on nominations from the general public.

The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame is privately funded through generous donations from individuals, businesses, and organizations. Staff support is provided by the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations, members of the Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues, and volunteers.

A site on the World Wide Web (www.GLHallofFame.org) has been established and maintained by the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. 4 2001 PLANNING COMMITTEE CHICAGO GAY AND LESBIAN HALL OF FAME

Gary G. Chichester Chairperson

Chuck Cox

Jack Delaney Selection Committee Co-Chairperson

Philip Hannema

William B. Kelley

Mary F. Morten Selection Committee Co-Chairperson

Dean Ogren

Kasey Reese

5 2001 INDUCTEES CHICAGO GAY AND LESBIAN HALL OF FAME

Lora Branch

Robert Castillo

Keith Elliott

Frank Goley and Robert Maddox

Chuck Hyde

Antonio David Jimenez

Michael A. Leppen

Ellen A. Meyers

Kathryn Munzer

Sara Feigenholtz Friend of the Community

Studs Terkel Friend of the Community

Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus

6 LORA BRANCH

video producer who has combined her communications skills with a career in Apublic health administration, Lora Branch has quickly achieved visibility as an openly lesbian Chicago public official.

Since December 1999, she has served in the Chicago Department of Public Health, where she is currently director of its Office of Lesbian and Gay Health. While in that position, she PHOTO: ISRAEL WRIGHT wrote and produced a 60-minute video drama, Kevin’s Room, that has been highly praised and exhibited nationwide. It discussed issues of HIV/AIDS among African American gay men, and it featured several local actors and performance artists. Previously, she was the department’s director of Capacity Building for STD/HIV/AIDS Public Policy and Programs.

Before her present tenure with the department, she spent one year as director of grantmaking and community education for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. During an earlier period with the department’s HIV/AIDS Public Policy and Programs Division from 1996 to 1998, she coordinated youth programs, worked with public schools and youth agencies to reduce teenage health risks, and provided staff assistance for the Chicago HIV Prevention Planning Group. Between 1991 and 1996, she was director of HIV programs at the Westside Association for Community Action and was regional coordinator of the Coalition on Adolescent Risk Reduction.

Branch honed her video skills as a volunteer cable television producer for the Chicago Access Corporation’s CAN-TV, where she helped to make Chicagoans aware of the public-access opportunities the corporation offers and helped to educate young persons of color about the need for HIV/AIDS prevention.

Since 1992, Branch has been a Chicago Black Lesbians and Gays steering committee member, cochairing the group during part of that time. From 1995 to 1997 she was a Horizons Community Services board member, helping to guide an organization that offered programs in which she had taken part during her own adolescence and coming-out period. She now serves on a Horizons advisory panel.

Branch is a Chicago native. She has a bachelor of arts degree from Columbia College and has studied in a master’s degree program in public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

7 ROBERT CASTILLO

obert Castillo has worked tirelessly over the past 10 years on issues with an impact Ron the LGBTQA community, of which he self-identifies as a queer Latino member.

The acronym (which can appear with its letters in various orders) today is often used to denote persons who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, who are questioning their sexual orientation, or who are allies of those groups. The Q is sometimes also taken as denoting the self-identity of queer. When referring to a community, many currently regard such usages as politically preferable to terms such as “gay,” “lesbian and gay,” “gay and lesbian,” “lesbigay,” or “sexual minority.” Castillo’s activist career has been characterized by a similar close attention to the political implications of word and deed.

Castillo’s organizational affiliations have been wide-ranging, including Queer Nation Chicago; ACT UP/Chicago; Northeastern Illinois University Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Alliance (which he cochaired); Association of Latin Men for Action (ALMA); ¡Ambiente Pa’lante! (which he cofounded); LLEGÓ, The National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organization; Coalition for Positive Sexuality; the Chicago chapter of Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Veterans of America; Logan Square Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Neighbors; People of Color Coalition; Emergency Clinic Defense Coalition; Horizons Community Services’ Antiviolence Project; and the Chicago Commission on Human Relations’ Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues (ACGLI). He has also contributed to the periodicals En La Vida and Logan’s Queer News, both of which he helped to create.

Castillo has always been an activist member of such groups. As examples, the first case involving sexual orientation that proceeded under the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance included Castillo and his partner, John Pennycuff, who were arrested with others after dancing as same-sex couples in a suburban bar. Earlier, Castillo had helped to organize demonstrations and testimony to demand passage of the ordinance. He helped to organize and publicize antiviolence marches. He arranged Queer Nation Chicago’s participation in the Loop’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. He assembled openly queer Latino/a contingents in the People’s Puerto Rican Parade and the 26th Street Mexican Independence Day Parade, and he marched with similar path-breaking groups in those parades’ Loop counterparts. He organized history, hate crimes, HIV/AIDS, and neighborhood events.

While chairing ACGLI’s Advocacy Committee, he oversaw forums on bisexual and transgender issues and a yearly Pride Month event that brought activists, politicians, and community members together. He introduced an ACGLI resolution in favor of amending city human rights laws to include gender identity and expression, which was adopted by ACGLI and its parent commission, and he organized a community Latina/o event cosponsored by ACGLI where sexual- minority persons openly participated.

All of Castillo’s activism has occurred before his 35th birthday. It is already a striking record. 8 KEITH ELLIOTT

hicago’s annual “Dance for Life” HIV/AIDS fund-raiser, now in its 10th Cyear, developed from an idea of Keith Elliott’s. Having been a principal dancer with the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, Elliott felt deeply the loss of fellow dancers and friends from the disease. He thought of a way to help.

Elliott decided to gather Chicago’s leading professional dance companies on one stage, for PHOTO: ISRAEL WRIGHT one evening only, to benefit HIV/AIDS organizations and promote the art of dance. Local dancers answered his call promptly and enthusiastically. Chicago Dancers United was formed to plan the future of “Dance for Life.”

As a member of the board that oversees “Dance for Life,” Elliott has produced the benefit part of the event 6 times and has produced the performance all 10 times.

In its third year, “Dance for Life” became the Midwest’s largest performance- based HIV/AIDS benefit. It has sold out for 10 years running, and a record high of $300,000 was predicted to be raised at this year’s August 25 event. More than $1.5 million had already been raised since the beginning.

Master classes benefiting “Dance for Life” were also established by Elliott. The Chicago area’s top choreographers participate in a daylong series of workshops that hundreds of dance students can attend. Elliott also has helped to coordinate “Dance Divas,” an evening of female impersonation by male professional dancers at the Baton Show Lounge to benefit “Dance for Life.” In addition, Elliott has participated in and helped to coordinate “Youth in Action,” which is Wheeling High School’s mini-“Dance for Life” event, and he founded “Sure They Can Dance, But Can They Sing?” as an evening of vocal styling by some of Chicago’s top professional dancers.

Elliott was a driving force in forming the Dance for Life Fund. It was set up to make emergency assistance grants to members of Chicago’s dance community living with HIV/AIDS. No one has been turned down. The fund is a means by which the dance community can help “its own.”

Besides the Dance for Life Fund, recipients of assistance from “Dance for Life” have included AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Open Hand Chicago, Howard Brown Health Center, Stop AIDS Chicago, and AIDS Alternative Health Center.

And besides “Dance for Life” work, as a freelance producer Elliott has been an integral part of the annual “Who’s That Girl?” benefits at Park West for Howard Brown Health Center. He has also performed with the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus and choreographed many of its concerts, in addition to choreographing Miss Illinois Teen USA and Miss Illinois USA pageants and the winning performances by the past seven holders of the Miss Gay Continental title.

Elliott has greatly aided Chicago’s dance community and persons living with HIV/AIDS, for which the Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame honors him. 9 FRANK GOLEY [posthumous] and ROBERT MADDOX

ale Hide Leathers, Inc., is a business that for more than 25 years has Mattracted national and international patronage by both gay and nongay customers. It began as a hobby by Frank Goley, a self-taught leather craftsman, to meet requests from his lover and partner since 1962, Robert Maddox, and from friends. Goley’s kitchen-table output quickly gained popularity among leather and motorcycle enthusiasts.

In 1972, Chicago gay businessman Chuck Renslow approached Maddox and Goley about starting a business in the cavernous basement of the Gold Coast bar, which was then located in what was already a nearly century-old building at 501 North Clark Street and which was itself internationally known as a center of gay male leather culture. Open only four nights a week, Goley and Maddox’s small store under the building’s Illinois Street vaulted sidewalk soon netted $48,000.

Customers were so keen to have Goley’s designs that he soon was working seven days a week on their production. He left his railroad business-office job to become a full-time entrepreneur with Maddox, who in turn quit his job and concentrated on store development.

In August 1974, the store expanded into a street-level storefront adjacent to the Gold Coast at 66 West Illinois Street. Maddox and Goley remained there until 1984, when the building was converted to offices and Male Hide had to move. They then found the store’s present location at 2816 North Lincoln Avenue, bought the building, and remodeled it. Male Hide continued to flourish in its more northern location, carrying not only specialty designs by Goley and others but also mass-produced hats, jeans, vests, jackets, and accessories. For years, Maddox would set up temporary shop at motorcycle events and leather pageants nationwide in order to enhance sales. Male Hide is now one of Chicago’s oldest and best-established overtly gay-owned businesses.

For more than 22 years, Goley’s designs and craftsmanship retained popularity, not only in the gay and nongay leather communities of Chicago but also nationally and internationally. Collaborating with Maddox, Goley developed such a reputation for fine work—both fantasy wear and classic creations—that the International Academy of Design hired him to teach leather fashion design.

Goley died on May 1, 1994, at Illinois Masonic Medical Center. A few years earlier, he was quoted as saying of his long partnership with Maddox, “We not only love one another, we have a deep respect for each other’s opinions and individuality—Bob doesn’t try to make me a copy of him, and I don’t try to make him a copy of me.” After Goley’s death, Maddox said that “Male Hide Leathers will continue to operate with the same dedication to excellence of craftsmanship that Frank established and lovingly maintained.” And so it did.

Maddox recently sold the business to new owners but remained as a consultant. For their long career of service and excellence, Goley and Maddox were chosen for the Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. 10 CHUCK HYDE

huck Hyde is a person who works behind the scenes, preferring to avoid the Cspotlight, but without whom local community organizations would lose a notable benefactor.

Hyde is the “go to” man at Sidetrack, a Halsted Street bar that has supported countless community projects. He is the one to talk to for organizing a benefit or holding a party. He PHOTO: ISRAEL WRIGHT himself has organized numerous charitable events and has helped to persuade other businesses to join in.

First as a staff member, then as manager, then as a partner, Hyde has worked at Sidetrack for 19 years. He is responsible for the bar’s day-to-day operations, has helped to oversee Sidetrack’s five expansions, works as a video jockey, and serves as an unofficial consultant to groups wishing to organize fund-raisers.

When he arranges to host a community event, he not only sees to it that the bar provides space; he also becomes active in planning the event, lending his expertise and advice and helping to set up business partnerships.

Some of the organizations for which Hyde has helped to produce successful events are Equality Illinois; Test Positive Aware Network; AIDS Legal Council of Chicago; About Face Theatre; Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus; Metropolitan Sports Association; Windy City Gay Chorus; Chicago Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (for which he has served as a board member); Open Hand Chicago; Frontrunners/Frontwalkers Chicago; Howard Brown Health Center; Chicago House; AIDS Foundation of Chicago; Gerber/Hart Library and Archives; “A Season of Concern”; Great Lakes Bears; NAMES Project Chicago; Chicago Smelts; AIDSCare; DirectAid; Horizons Community Services; International Mr. Leather Contest; Lionheart Gay Theatre Company; Lesbian Community Cancer Project; American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois; Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network’s Chicago chapter; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; Illinois Gay Rodeo Association; Chicago Pride Invitational Bowling Tournament & Scratch Masters; Chicago’s Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps (ROTC); Gay and Lesbian Parents; and the Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame itself.

Hyde’s ideas and inspiration have helped a long list of community groups produce events that generated more attention and raised far more money than the groups likely could have managed on their own. His unique contributions have been invaluable.

11 ANTONIO DAVID JIMENEZ

uring more than a decade, chiefly through creation of the Minority DOutreach Intervention Project, Dave Jimenez has been making a positive impact on Chicago.

The innovative project, formed in 1989, is a community-based nonprofit agency that provides HIV/AIDS intervention and prevention services to gay, bisexual, and transgendered PHOTO: ISRAEL WRIGHT African American and Latino men.

The project was one of the nation’s first agencies to focus such services on those men. It was also one of the first agencies to offer street-based outreach in bars, parks, and other congregation sites.

Key to the project’s success in reaching African American and Latino men who have sex with other men (MSM) is its Indigenous Leader Outreach Model, which Jimenez helped to develop. The model, another first for the project, outlines how to introduce community-based interventions by employing persons from the target population and using their personal social networks to reach people.

Through Jimenez’s vision and commitment, the Minority Outreach Prevention Project has grown from a staff of 3 in 1989 to a staff of more than 20 today. It offers a variety of services, including citywide HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention outreach; Ryan White CARE Act and Illinois Office of Rehabilitation Services case management for HIV-positive MSM; prevention case management; an onsite primary medical care clinic; HIV counseling and testing; and Lo Nuestro and Unidad/Unity discussion programs for Latino adult and adolescent MSM.

For the project, Jimenez has held the title of executive director since 1992. He has bachelor and master of arts degrees from Northwestern University, and he has numerous presentations and professional papers to his credit during the past 13 years.

He has shown dedication to ensuring the health and well-being of others, and on this record he was selected for the Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.

12 MICHAEL A. LEPPEN

or years, Michael Leppen has given leadership and financial support to a large Fvariety of nonprofit organizations in the Chicago area and elsewhere, many of them serving sexual-minority communities. His contributions have been made unselfishly, without regard to faction, and with a focus on the positive effects of actual work being done.

Leppen cochairs 2002 gala committees for PHOTO: GERALD PESKIN Equality Illinois and for the Desert AIDS Project of Palm Springs, California.

He has been a generous contributor and consultant to Chicago’s Lesbian Community Cancer Project. For the past eight years, he has helped the fight against AIDS by serving on the Dance for Life benefit committee, which he cochaired for a year. Other current Chicago involvements include Episcopal Charities and Community Services’ Bishop Anderson House and Chase House.

In Palm Springs, he is also active with Gay Associated Youth and is an adviser to the AIDS Assistance Program. In New York, he helps to advise In the Life, the national television news magazine covering gay and lesbian issues and culture.

One especially significant Leppen activity is his role as an underwriter of About Face Youth Theatre and as a board member of About Face Theatre. Since the Youth Theatre program was founded in 1999, he has instituted three Youth Theatre challenge grants, which were estimated to have raised $120,000 by the end of the most recent season. Besides philanthropy, Leppen conceived and facilitated coverage of the Youth Theatre in 1999 by In the Life, has arranged the group’s annual Pride Parade floats and T-shirts, and has encouraged a Youth Theatre national expansion. He has also recruited other About Face board members, donors, and volunteers.

In past years, Leppen has also cochaired AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s “Not Just Song and Dance” benefit, cochaired and served on a board for Bonaventure House’s annual “Jubilate” benefit concerts, and cochaired Episcopal Charities’ dinner dance. Besides personal involvements, his financial contributions have been of major assistance to a wide spectrum of arts, human rights, and political activities.

His efforts have been honored by awards from the Chicago NAMES Project, Human Rights Campaign, and About Face Theatre. In recognition of his consistent contributions to social welfare, he is now a member of the Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.

13 ELLEN A. MEYERS

llen Meyers is a longtime and active member of Chicago’s lesbian and gay Ecommunity. A native of Maryland, she is currently deputy director of intergovernmental affairs for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.

That appointment makes her the highest-placed open lesbian in the executive branch of Illinois state government. It followed White’s 1999 PHOTO: CATHERINE SIKORA post-election announcement that he would appoint her his liaison to the state’s GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) communities.

Previously she served as liaison for lesbian and gay issues in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Dorothy Brown, who was elected clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court in 2000, also appointed Meyers as a cochair of the Public Policy Subcommittee of her Transition and Strategic Planning Committee.

Meyers is currently in her fourth term as chair of the board of directors of Equality Illinois, the statewide GLBT civil rights organization. She also serves on the group’s political action committee and is heavily involved in efforts to pass a statewide GLBT rights bill. She is a consultant on GLBT issues to several elected and appointed officials.

She is a founding member of Horizons Community Services’ Lesbian and Gay Aging Task Force. As part of the struggle against AIDS, she has been a volunteer with Open Hand Chicago for more than 10 years and has been recognized with the 1999 Good Samaritan Award from Samaritan Housing Services, an agency serving persons with AIDS on Chicago’s South Side and in its south suburbs. She was also recognized with the 2001 President’s Award from the Greater Chicago Committee.

Meyers is an award-winning filmmaker and a published author. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Lawrence University and a master of arts degree from Columbia College. She was also a National Endowment for the Arts fellow.

14 KATHRYN MUNZER

s a collective member and producer, Kathryn Munzer has been an invaluable Aresource for the Mountain Moving Coffeehouse collective during the past 20 years.

The success of lesbian communities has included creation and maintenance of community centers and activities that affect their everyday lives. Mountain Moving Coffeehouse for Womyn and Children is an PHOTO: TRACY BAIM important lesbian institution. It is the oldest space of its kind and one of the few such spaces left in this country. Through her cheerful and enthusiastic presence, as well as her constant and dedicated work, Kathy Munzer is preserving and fostering critical parts of lesbian culture.

Munzer’s profound commitment to the lesbian community manifests itself through her support of lesbian activities and a wide variety of lesbian artists and artisans. None of this work has ever been paid. She uses her vacation time to do it, and she continually arranges her life to accommodate the needs of particular artists and the lesbian community as a whole.

She has done performer care at major festivals—Campfest, East Coast Lesbian Festival (performer support coordinator 1990–94), Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (acoustic stage 1991–94). She goes to such festivals recognizing that Chicago should not be isolated; her work there brings performers to Chicago who might otherwise not leave their established niches.

Through personal contact she has been able to book “big” names at the top of their popularity, who agree to perform without a guarantee in a small venue so that Mountain Moving can maintain its policy of never denying access because of lack of funds. She also books lesbian artists who are not known in order to widen their audience exposure. Furthering her desire to foster lesbian community discussions, she is a founding and active member of the Institute of Lesbian Studies.

Munzer also supports others’ endeavors. As a result of her outreach, the coffeehouse cosponsors events and hosts benefits for lesbian individuals and organizations, and it supports other lesbian community projects.

In addition, recognizing that to sustain lesbian cultures requires a nonparochial view, Munzer believes in an outreach to the larger society. For example, during 1995 and 1996 she was a board member of Insight Arts, a multicultural arts- activism organization in Rogers Park.

Munzer’s work has made a significant contribution to the Chicago lesbian community.

15 SARA FEIGENHOLTZ

uring her time as a state representative from the Chicago North Side’s 12th DDistrict, Sara Feigenholtz has continually voiced support for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) equal rights, besides backing other measures to address problems affecting sexual-minority communities, such as HIV, AIDS, and hate crimes.

Feigenholtz’s work has helped to secure significant funding for health and social service programs of special interest to those communities. The money has assisted such agencies as Howard Brown Health Center, Horizons Community Services, Test Positive Aware Network, About Face Theatre, Open Hand Chicago, and AIDSCare. She has been recognized for that work by several organizations, including AIDS Foundation of Chicago and Howard Brown Health Center.

Among the stands taken by Feigenholtz while a state representative have been advocacy of including a sexual-orientation discrimination ban in the Illinois Human Rights Act; opposition to the 1996 passage of a law barring recognition of same-sex marriages; successful support for expanding the state’s AIDS drug reimbursement program to ensure that all persons living with HIV or AIDS can have access to a full spectrum of medications; opposition to name reporting for persons living with HIV, which helped lead to the non-name-based, “unique identifier” reporting system now in effect; and sponsorship of various proposed amendments to the state’s hate crime law, intended to make prosecutions easier.

She took office as a state representative in 1995. In the state House of Representatives, she chairs the Human Services Committee and cochairs the Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Distribution Committee. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Northeastern Illinois University.

Feigenholtz has supported important substantive and fiscal measures with notable present or future effect on the quality of life for GLBT individuals in Chicago and statewide. Because of this record, she was selected as a “Friend of the Community.”

16 STUDS TERKEL

hroughout his long life, Studs Terkel’s steadfast championship of social justice Thas included support for the welfare and rights of sexual-minority persons. He is a true “Friend of the Community.”

An early example was his 1940s participation in the aldermanic campaign of the late Pearl M. Hart, a pioneering Chicago lawyer who was not openly lesbian but whose career mixed representation of countless gay men and PHOTO: CHEN K. OOI lesbians with advocacy for other vulnerable groups such as leftists and the foreign-born.

Within a few years after the 1965 founding of Mattachine Midwest, at a time when the group still had trouble in generating publicity, Terkel aired one of the first radio interviews with its representatives by inviting James Bradford (as its longtime president was known) to be on his show.

In the early 1970s, when a local church that hosted Alderman Dick Simpson’s annual 44th Ward Fair refused to let the fair include a gay organization’s booth, Terkel arrived, saw a gay picket line, spontaneously joined it, then went inside the fair and vigorously denounced the antigay exclusion.

Several of Terkel’s well-known books of oral history, which began publication in 1967, have included profiles of lesbian and gay figures such as the late writer and activist Valerie Taylor; the late writer, minister, actor, and activist George S. Buse; Mattachine Midwest’s Bradford; and Mattachine Society founder Harry Hay. Gay and lesbian persons also figure in Terkel’s latest book, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith, just published this autumn.

The third son of Russian Jewish parents, Terkel was born in the Bronx on May 16, 1912, and named Louis Terkel. Eleven years later the family moved to Chicago, where his father found work as a tailor. After graduating from high school in 1928, Terkel attended the University of Chicago, from which he received a law degree in 1934 during the worst of the Depression. He found work producing radio shows and, using the name Studs after the title character of James T. Farrell’s Studs Lonigan, also performed with the Chicago Repertory Theatre company. There he met Ida Goldberg, a social worker and lifelong activist who became his beloved wife until her 1999 death.

After World War II, Terkel worked as a radio news commentator and disc jockey. In 1949 he began his own television show but lost his contract after being targeted by McCarthyites in 1953 because of his leftist politics. A career as jazz columnist, actor, author, and radio host ensued—including his daily WFMT radio program, The Studs Terkel Show, which started in 1958 and for the rest of the century aired thousands of penetrating interviews with celebrities and unknowns.

Terkel has been described as a historian and a sociologist, but he is said to call himself a “guerrilla journalist with a tape recorder.” His campaigns have been for all of us. 17 CHICAGO GAY MEN’S CHORUS

ince 1983, the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus has offered audiences a mixture of Schoral ensemble work and musical theater presented by more than 1,000 past and present members. Over the years, tens of thousands of audience members have been entertained.

The chorus has attained a national reputation for excellence with a wide range of performing styles. Besides more traditional choral performance, it often incorporates dance, sets, costumes, and spoken dialogue found in musical theater. The chorus tries to present original works and fresh arrangements that are designed to celebrate both the serious and the zany elements of gay life.

Acting as ambassadors for Chicago and Illinois, the chorus has traveled and performed nationally in such places as Denver, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Seattle, Tampa, Detroit, and San Jose. It has also hosted choruses from across the United States and Europe.

The chorus strives to be a positive force in Chicago and northeastern Illinois and to provide an important social outlet for its members.

In addition to its three major staged shows each season, the chorus performs at numerous community and benefit events. Appearances have occurred at “A Show of Concern,” sponsored by Marshall Field’s; “Not Just Song and Dance,” for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago; receptions hosted by the mayor’s office; AIDS Walk Chicago; a Midwestern gathering of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG); the Art Against AIDS event; a display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt; and the Illinois state capitol.

Outreach concerts are also performed at colleges such as Northwestern University and the University of Chicago to help young people address issues of sexual orientation.

On October 14, the chorus was scheduled to perform at “Opening the Curtain to Our Hearts,” a scholarship fund-raiser at the Auditorium Theatre for persons in need as a result of the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center. The chorus has also scheduled its first CD recording to go on sale this year.

18 PREVIOUS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

ACT UP/CHICAGO (2000): The group, which lasted until 1995, was the local chapter of the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power, a national organization committed to using direct action and civil disobedience to fight AIDS. It challenged both institutional responses to AIDS and homophobic discrimination.

AD HOC COMMITTEE OF PROUD BLACK LESBIANS AND GAYS (1993): The committee was formed to create positive gay and lesbian visibility in Chicago’s African American community and to march as open lesbians and gay men in the 64th annual Bud Billiken Parade. After filing and mediating a human rights charge, the group marched and was warmly received by the community.

ROBERT J. ADAMS (1994, now deceased): Originally a practicing lawyer, he led Chicago’s NAMES Project chapter and from 1989 to 1991 was IMPACT’s first fulltime executive director. He then joined the staff of openly gay U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds; returned to Chicago in late 1992 as development director for the Chicago Department of Health’s AIDS programs; and resigned for health reasons in 1993. He died in 1994.

ORTEZ ALDERSON (posthumous 1991): Born in 1952, he was an actor and activist who, among other achievements, helped to organize the People of Color AIDS Conference. He died of complications from AIDS in 1991.

AVA ALLEN (1999): Longtime owner of the city’s oldest lesbian bar, Lost & Found, she has maintained it as a home away from home for generations of lesbians and, through it, helped to raise thousands of dollars to fight cancer and meet women’s health needs.

JACQUELINE ANDERSON (1996): As educator and writer, she has contributed to academic discussion about lesbianism and feminism. She helped to establish a Lesbian Community Cancer Project clinic on Chicago’s South Side; led Yahimba, which held citywide conferences on African American lesbians’ needs; and has supported the Institute of Lesbian Studies, the Mountain Moving Coffee House, and Gerber/Hart Library.

TONI ARMSTRONG JR. (1997): A leader since the 1970s in documenting, producing, and performing lesbian and feminist music, she is also an openly lesbian high school teacher who has been in the forefront of efforts to promote the welfare of lesbian and gay students and teachers.

ASSOCIATION OF LATIN MEN FOR ACTION (2000): Known as ALMA (Spanish for “soul”), it has offered a place for bisexual and gay Latinos to address their issues, both as sexual-minority members of Latino communities and as ethnic-minority members of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities.

19 TRACY BAIM (1994): Since 1984, she has labored untiringly as publisher, reporter, editor, columnist, and photographer in offering a voice to all segments of the community. In 2000, her company bought the weekly Windy City Times and merged her weekly Outlines into it. She also publishes the weekly Nightlines, plus BLACKlines, En La Vida, Clout!, and the OUT! Resource Guide. In addition, she helped to found and has cochaired the Chicago Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

JOHN J. BALESTER (1999): He is a past leader of the former Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force and in 1990 was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley to chair the city’s Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues. He worked to improve liaison beween city government and activist organizations of all stripes.

CARRIE BARNETT (1998): She cofounded People Like Us Books, which at the time was Chicago’s only exclusively gay and lesbian bookstore and which helped to nurture the local literary community. She also headed the Gerber/Hart Library board and cochaired large fundraisers for community organizations.

ROBERT SLOANE BASKER (1993, now deceased): He founded Mattachine Midwest in 1965, began Chicago’s first gay and lesbian telephone hotline, and started discussions with police amid arbitrary raids and arrests. He also took part in pre-Stonewall national organizing and in Dade County organizing during the Anita Bryant era. Born in 1918, he remained a social-change activist in a variety of causes until his death in 2001.

LORRAINNE SADE BASKERVILLE (2000): She founded transGenesis in 1995 as an agency to advocate for and address concerns of persons in the city’s transgender community, such as gender identity, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, sex work, harm reduction, and self-empowerment.

DAVID BRIAN BELL (posthumous 1999): After being diagnosed with AIDS, he became a visible public advocate for persons with HIV/AIDS and helped to build support, information, and protest networks for use in their struggle.

CARYN BERMAN (1995): A psychotherapist and social worker, for some 20 years she has worked professionally and as a volunteer and political activist to improve Chicagoans’ lives. She has focused on the health and civil rights of lesbians and gay men but has skillfully built coalitions and has been an influential HIV/AIDS educator and policymaker.

GEORGE S. BUSE (1994, now deceased): As journalist, activist, actor, and minister, he made his mark on Chicago’s gay and lesbian community. A subject of Studs Terkel’s The Good War and of the video documentary Before Stonewall, he was a World War II Marine veteran (discharged from a later Navy chaplaincy for being gay). Born in 1924, he was a civil rights and anti–Vietnam War activist in the 1960s and died in 2000.

JAMES A. BUSSEN (1994): Since 1973, his engaging personality and senses of humor and fairness have aided many Chicago gay and lesbian efforts. 20 ROGER “RJ” CHAFFIN (1997): One of Chicago’s most visible gay businesspersons for more than two decades and a reliable volunteer for gay and lesbian and AIDS groups, he has produced numerous large charitable and special events, raised thousands of dollars for local organizations, given his own money as well, coproduced a hate crimes documentary film, and been an active member of business groups.

SAMSON CHAN (posthumous 1995): During a short, courageous life, he built a legacy of social change here and overseas. In 1984 at age 23 he cofounded and became first president of Asians and Friends–Chicago, a group for gay Asians and non-Asians that has been replicated in other cities internationally. After failing to gain permanent U.S. residence, he returned to Hong Kong in 1991, became a pioneering and attention-getting gay and AIDS organizer there, but died of AIDS complications in 1995.

JOHN CHESTER (1994): Since 1971, he has been a leader in lesbian and gay rights efforts, philanthropic organizing, Chicago House development, and both gay and non-gay religious activism. At the same time, he has been much involved in political organizations and election campaigns. Since the late 1960s he has also aided programs for affordable housing and community development.

CHICAGO HOUSE AND SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCY, INC. (1994): Opening its first facility in 1986, this was Chicago’s first grassroots agency to respond to immediate housing needs of persons with HIV disease and AIDS. It established the Midwest’s first “continuum of care” within supportive housing for such persons, accommodating residents ranging from those with an initial diagnosis of HIV to those with terminal AIDS.

GARY G. CHICHESTER (1992): He has provided more than 25 years of commitment and work to the gay and lesbian communities. In 1971 he cofounded the Chicago Gay Alliance, which created Chicago’s first gay and lesbian community center. He has served on the Chicago Commission on Human Relations’ Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues from 1989 and has sat on the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame Committee from its inception in 1991 (cochairing it since 1992).

E. KITCH CHILDS, Ph.D. (posthumous 1993): She was a prominent clinical psychologist and advocate of gay and lesbian human rights legislation since 1973 as a feminist, lesbian activist, and founding member of the Association for Women in Psychology. She worked to revise the American Psychological Association’s attitudes toward homosexuality.

THOMAS R. CHIOLA (1998): He is the first openly gay candidate to have been elected to public office in Illinois, winning a Cook County Circuit Court judgeship in 1994. While serving on IMPACT’s board and as a state agency’s general counsel, he lobbied to pass state and county sexual-orientation nondiscrimination laws. He was also an early leader in the gay sports movement and is a longtime AIDS volunteer.

JERROLD E. COHEN (posthumous 1993): Born in 1943, he was involved in forming more than a dozen community groups including University of Chicago 21 ANN CHRISTOPHERSEN (1992): As a successful businesswoman (of Women & Children First bookstore), she has provided a positive role model and developed activities and programs to meet the needs of Chicago’s gay and lesbian community.

SARAH CRAIG (posthumous 1995): She joined GayLife’s staff in the late 1970s and rose to become coeditor. Then she started a typesetting business that helped many gay and lesbian groups. She became heavily involved in gay and lesbian political efforts and, as journalist and dramatic speaker, pushed for a city gay rights bill. In the late 1980s she was associate editor of Windy City Times for five years. She died in 1994.

JON-HENRI DAMSKI (1991, now deceased): He was a columnist for GayLife, Gay Chicago Magazine, Windy City Times, and ultimately Nightlines and Outlines. His lobbying efforts were important to the passage of the Chicago human rights ordinance in 1989 and the hate crimes ordinance in 1990. Born in 1937, he died of melanoma complications in 1997.

JAMES C. DARBY (1997): After cofounding the Chicago chapter of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Veterans of America, he tirelessly promoted the group during a period of intense controversy over equal military service rights. He became recording secretary of the city’s Advisory Council on Veterans Affairs and ultimately national president of GLBVA. He is also an inveterate photodocumentarian of gay and lesbian public events.

SAMUEL F. DAVIS, JR. (posthumous 1994): From 1987, as entrepreneur and attorney, he developed a nurturing environment particularly for Chicago’s gay and lesbian African Americans. Bars he cofounded were Dëeks, Pangea, and the Clubhouse. He also aided the Kupona Network, the Minority Outreach Intervention Project, and the Reimer Foundation.

JACK DELANEY (1996): A supporter of many community groups, he joined Dignity/Chicago in 1977 and later served as its president and a member of Dignity/USA’s board. He has chaired Chicago House’s board, served as Windy City Athletic Association commissioner, cochaired the 48th Ward Gay and Lesbian Coalition, and served on the boards of the Frank M. Rodde III Memorial Building Fund and the Illinois Federation for Human Rights Political Action Committee. In 1995 he was elected to the Edgewater Community Council.

DIGNITY/CHICAGO (1997): Since 1972, the local Dignity chapter has served the needs of gay and lesbian Roman Catholics and advocated for the full participation of sexual minorities in church life. It has also been outspoken on issues of lesbian and gay rights in civil society.

LAURIE J. DITTMAN (1998): She has been active in local independent politics and in gay and lesbian political organizing. She was a chief lobbyist during passage of Chicago and Cook County laws against sexual-orientation discrimination. A former official of IVI-IPO, IMPACT, and the Human Rights Campaign Fund, she became deputy Chicago city treasurer and the highest- ranking openly gay or lesbian city official. 22 RANDY DUNCAN (1999): An internationally known choreographer, he has used his dance talents to raise funds to fight AIDS and to include gay and lesbian themes in his body of work. He was artistic director of Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre for seven years, and his works have been performed by other companies including the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago.

JAMES W. FLINT (1991): A well-known businessman, he is founder and owner of the Miss Gay Continental Pageant, a national contest for female impersonators, and owns the long-established Baton Show Lounge and other businesses. He is also active in Democratic Party politics.

ROBERT T. FORD (1993, now deceased): He pioneered outreach of the gay cultural experience into the African American community through publication of the ’zine Thing and as writer for numerous publications. He died in 1994.

JEANNETTE HOWARD FOSTER, Ph.D. (posthumous 1998): Born in 1895, she was an educator, librarian, translator, poet, scholar, and author of the first critical study of lesbian literature, Sex Variant Women in Literature (1956). She was also the first librarian of Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s Institute for Sex Research, and she influenced generations of librarians and gay and lesbian literary figures. She died in 1981.

FRONTRUNNERS/FRONTWALKERS CHICAGO (1995): Formed in 1982 as Frontrunners Chicago to promote running-related activities, the gay and lesbian club now has dozens of counterparts in this country and abroad. It is the largest walking and running club in Chicago and has raised thousands of dollars for lesbian and gay groups as well as AIDS, lesbian health, and general community charities.

HENRY BLAKE FULLER (posthumous 2000): Born in 1857, he was an author, poet, critic, and composer. He wrote novels and short-story collections that were set in Chicago. His 1896 play At Saint Judas’s was effectively the first play on a homosexual theme published in America. In 1919, he courageously published a philosophic novel centered on homosexual characters, Bertram Cope’s Year. He died in 1929.

RICK GARCIA (1999): After moving to Chicago in 1986, he continued as a high-profile activist and helped to lead the final stage of a 15-year struggle to pass a 1988 ordinance against sexual-orientation discrimination. He was the founding executive director of Equality Illinois. In Roman Catholic circles, he also has worked extensively in behalf of the church’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered adherents.

RICHARD GARRIN (1993): He was founding director of Windy City Gay Chorus and for more than 15 years brought musical excellence to local and national audiences, serving as an ambassador of goodwill for the gay and lesbian community.

GAY CHICAGO MAGAZINE (1991): Originally founded in 1976 as Gay Chicago News, the magazine has continued to publish up-to-date information on lifestyle, entertainment, bar, and organization events in Chicago’s gay and 23 GERBER/HART LIBRARY (1996): As a repository of gay and lesbian history and culture, the library holds more than 10,000 titles and has a growing archival collection, said by some to be unparalleled in the Midwest. As a cultural center, it often mounts or cosponsors readings and exhibitions. Recent years have seen computerization, an Internet presence, and its first fulltime director.

ADRIENNE J. GOODMAN (1994): She was named a “Friend of the Community” for her commitment to lesbian and gay inclusion in politics. She chaired Grant L. Ford’s openly gay 1975 campaign for 44th Ward alderman. As a City Council staffer, she helped efforts to pass the human rights ordinance, and as a Democratic Party activist she long advocated for gay and lesbian rights.

JEFF GRAUBART-CERVONE (1993): He has been an activist and advocate for gay and lesbian human rights for more than two decades in the Midwest and Chicago. He participated in the passage of human rights legislation, the effort to overcome the anti-gay and -lesbian efforts of Anita Bryant, and demonstrations for same-sex marriage.

RICHARD LEE GRAY (1992): He has committed himself since the 1970s to serve the needs of the African American gay and lesbian community. He also developed and presented educational programs for gay and lesbian youth dealing with sexuality and health.

VERNITA GRAY (1992): She organized a gay and lesbian hotline in 1969 and hosted support groups in her home. She has published extensively in literary and poetry magazines and was an early leader in the Chicago gay liberation movement.

IDA GREATHOUSE (posthumous 1997): Born in 1952, as mother and activist she drew national attention to the needs of herself and of others living with AIDS. She advocated visibly for increased AIDS funding and for special programs for women and children with AIDS. For this, she was selected as a “Friend of the Community.” She died in 1995.

PEG GREY (1992): She has provided key leadership over two decades in building lesbian and gay athletic programs and organizations and in organizing lesbian and gay teachers.

ARLENE HALKO (1996): After joining Dignity/Chicago in 1975, she became its first lesbian president and was on its board for five years. She was a cofounder of Chicago House in 1985 and has tirelessly assisted it. As a medical physicist, she was a familiar face on Cook County Hospital’s AIDS ward until 1993, and as owner of Piggens Pub from 1982 to 1989 she used the bar as a community support vehicle.

JOEL HALL (1993): As impresario, choreographer, and dance instructor, he is one of Chicago’s cultural treasures. With international credentials and recognition, he is committed to the art of dance and the training and presentation of Chicago’s youth through the dance medium. 24 RENEE C. HANOVER (1991): A well-known civil rights attorney who often provided her services pro bono, she has long been a high-visibility advocate for lesbian and gay rights. She has worked for civil rights legislation of all kinds and has vigorously opposed all forms of discrimination in the law and in the community. In 2000, she moved to Los Angeles, where she now lives at age 75.

LORRAINE HANSBERRY (posthumous 1999): Born in Chicago in 1930 and best known for A Raisin in the Sun, which in 1959 became the first play by an African American woman to open on Broadway, she was an early supporter of equal rights regardless of sexual orientation. Same-sex attraction figured in some of her work, and she is credited with writing two pro-lesbian 1957 letters in The Ladder, an early lesbian periodical. She died in 1965.

JEAN V. HARDISTY (1995): She helped to open Chicago’s first shelter for battered women; has written and organized for women’s social and health needs; and, besides private philanthropy, cofounded the Crossroads Fund, a nontraditional funderof many gay, lesbian, and AIDS groups. In 1981, she formed what is now Political Research Associates, of Cambridge, Mass., which educates the public on right-wing tactics.

JORJET HARPER (1998): She has been a journalist and columnist for more than 20 years, commenting on a panorama of gay- and lesbian-oriented topics in publications throughout the country. In addition, her “Lesbomania” columns and performances have tackled homophobia and built community through humor. More recently, she has been a speaker and educator on lesbian and gay issues and history.

GREGORY “GREG” HARRIS (1996): Since 1992, as an openly gay man living with AIDS, he has been chief of staff for 48th Ward Ald. Mary Ann Smith. He has devoted untold amounts of volunteer time to AIDS-related causes and was cofounder and first president both of AIDS Walk Chicago and of Open Hand Chicago. He was instrumental in securing domestic partnership benefits for Chicago city government employees and cofounded Lesbians and Gays in Government.

PEARL M. HART (posthumous 1992): She spent her entire legal career of 61 years defending the civil rights of all persons.

DERRICK ALLEN HICKS (1999): He has been an organizer in the African American lesbian and gay communities of Chicago and Washington, D. C., for more than 20 years. He founded Diplomat magazine and has helped to lead numerous AIDS, political, and social service groups.

EARNEST E. HITE, JR. (1994): In 1987, he cofounded Image Plus to provide social support for young gay and bisexual males of African descent. As an HIV/AIDS health educator and youth worker who is openly HIV-positive and gay, he has assisted community-based groups, especially those serving African Americans.

SARAH LUCIA HOAGLAND (2000): She has been an influential exponent of lesbian feminist values during some 20 years on the faculty of Northeastern 25 HOWARD BROWN HEALTH CENTER (1991): Founded in 1974 as Howard Brown Memorial Clinic, it has distinguished itself as the Midwest’s leading provider of support services to and for people living with AIDS and HIV disease, and as an internationally recognized center for hepatitis and AIDS/HIV research.

JUDITH S. JOHNS (1991): She was inducted as a “Friend of the Community” for her dedication to the gay and lesbian community in the development and promotion of programs and services in response to the AIDS pandemic.

CAROL A. JOHNSON (1991): She was the Midwest AIDS Project Coordinator at the Service Employees International Union in Chicago. She presented workshops for lesbians, lobbied for legislation, and worked to institute public policies favorable to the lesbian and gay community.

ARTHUR L. JOHNSTON (1998): During two decades, he has been a community activist. As partner in the innovative video bar Sidetrack, he aided gay and lesbian businesses’ growth and made many contributions to charitable and political efforts. He was an early leader of what is now the Metropolitan Sports Association, and he was an important organizer in passage of Chicago and Cook County human rights legislation.

IRA H. JONES (posthumous 1998): In Mattachine Midwest and other venues, for well over 20 years he was one of the city’s most visible, energetic spokespersons for sexual-minority rights. He was a leader in the gay and lesbian business community, active in religious circles as an openly gay advocate, committed to racial justice, a worker in Regular Democratic organizations, and a leader in numerous gay and lesbian groups.

RICK KARLIN (1997): For more than 20 years, he has been a visible public figure in print and onstage. He has lent his talents to countless charitable events, cofounded the city’s first gay parents group, volunteered extensively for Horizons Community Services, been a leading advocate for gay and lesbian teachers, and contributed his writings to all the local gay and lesbian media.

NANCY J. KATZ (2000): She became the first self-identified lesbian judge in Illinois when she was appointed in 1999 as an associate judge of the Cook County Circuit Court. Her community and professional work dates to the 1970s in lesbian feminist, domestic violence, political, legal assistance, and family welfare settings.

CORINNE KAWECKI (1997): Beginning in 1985, she became a quiet but indefatigable volunteer and leader at Horizons Community Services. She has also been active in women’s sports groups, the Chicago Abused Women’s Coalition, and the Lesbian Community Cancer Project, serving as president of the latter.

CLIFFORD P. KELLEY (1998): A former member of the Chicago City Council, he is a “Friend of the Community” for having become in 1973, at some political risk, the pioneering lead sponsor of Chicago’s first proposed ordinance to ban sexual-orientation discrimination. His perseverance helped 26 NICK KELLY (1995): As an activist and a creative gay man, he was a vibrant part of Chicago’s gay and lesbian community for decades before moving to Wisconsin. He helped to organize Gay Liberation and the Chicago Gay Alliance as the 1970s dawned. As a graphic designer, he produced much material for Chicago gay and lesbian organizations. He was founding president of Toddlin’ Town Performing Arts, encompassing gay and lesbian band and choral groups, and later headed the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus.

BILLIE JEAN KING (1999): Building on her tennis stardom to create social change, she has elevated the self-esteem of girls and women through her lifelong struggle for equality in the sports world. She has also raised large sums to fight AIDS, has contributed funds to combat homophobia in schools, and has supported efforts to stem gay and lesbian teenage suicide rates.

DOROTHY KLEFSTAD (1998): She is a “Friend of the Community” for having begun a ceaseless career as a volunteer for lesbian, gay, and AIDS causes after learning that her daughter was a lesbian. This has been in addition to her ongoing volunteerism in nongay church, cultural, health, and environmental activities.

FRANKIE KNUCKLES (1996): As producer, remixer, and DJ, he is the inventor and popularizer of “house” music, known worldwide as “Chicago house” and named after Chicago’s Warehouse nightclub, where he drew huge crowds between 1977 and 1987. He is now a DJ and an album producer of international stature.

BRUCE KOFF (1994): He has significantly aided Chicago’s and the nation’s gay and lesbian community in social services and mental health, especially from 1984 to 1990 as executive director of Horizons Community Services after being on its staff since 1976. He now has a clinical and teaching practice in psychotherapy.

DANNY KOPELSON (2000): Since 1981, he has been an indefatigable arts and AIDS fund-raiser and a mainstay of the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, in which he is a founding member. He has produced special events, including Dance for Life, that have raised millions of dollars to fight AIDS.

MARIE J. KUDA (1991): For more than 30 years, she has worked as historian, archivist, writer, lecturer, and publisher to promote and preserve positive images of lesbians and gay men. She organized five national lesbian writers conferences, published the first annotated lesbian bibliography, Women Loving Women, and is still publishing literary reference materials and writing regular columns.

NANCY LANOUE (1993): She is a leader in the movement to combat violence against women and to promote their self-defense. Herself a survivor, she has also been a major leader in education, outreach, and service delivery for survivors of breast cancer.

LESBIAN COMMUNITY CANCER PROJECT (1999): Since 1990 as the first effort of its kind in the Midwest, it has provided one-on-one support, direct 27 ELLIS B. LEVIN (1994): An Illinois state representative from 1977 to 1995, he was named a “Friend of the Community” for his longtime sponsorship of lesbian and gay rights bills, women’s rights measures, and other legislation addressing gay and lesbian, AIDS, and women’s health concerns.

LIONHEART GAY THEATRE COMPANY (1994): The first Midwest performing arts organization to produce gay and lesbian works, this all- volunteer group under Rick Paul's guidance mounted more than 40 original plays in more than 100 performances from the 1970s to 1994, often donating proceeds to lesbian and gay organizations.

PATRICIA S. McCOMBS (2000): She is a veteran organizer and social service volunteer. Besides cofounding Executive Sweet, a “traveling club” for women of color, she has assisted the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival for decades and has helped to lead several lesbian and African American organizations.

LARRY McKEON (1997): He made a historic, indelible mark on Chicago politics in 1996 by winning an Illinois House of Representatives seat as the state’s first openly gay or lesbian state legislator. Before that, he served effectively as director of the city’s Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues, held leading positions in social service administration, and was a police officer.

HARLEY McMILLEN (1992): He played an important role in the formation of the Howard Brown Memorial Clinic, now known as the Howard Brown Health Center. He was instrumental in organizing the AIDS Action Project, which contributed in large part to development of the City of Chicago’s Comprehensive AIDS Strategic Plan.

SCOTT McPHERSON (1992, now deceased): He was one of the first openly gay, HIV-positive American artists, a renowned playwright and accomplished actor. He was the author of the critically acclaimed play Marvin’s Room, later made into a film. Born in 1959, he died of AIDS complications in 1992.

METROPOLITAN SPORTS ASSOCIATION (1992): This group is a recognized leader in the Midwest and the nation in providing organized athletic activities, including local, national, and international athletic events.

TONY MIDNITE (1996): After coming to Chicago in 1951 as a female impersonator, he opened a costume design studio and eventually worked 16- hour days to meet worldwide demand. He defied police disapproval of such shows in the early 1950s by booking the Jewel Box Revue for a sold-out run, which set a precedent. In 2000, he moved to Las Vegas. His reminiscences span nearly 50 years of visible gay life.

Rev. SID L. MOHN, D. Min. (1993): He was the first openly gay individual ordained in the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ. He continues to be a prominent leader in Chicago’s not-for-profit social service community, having major impact on policies and services to meet the needs of immigrants, refugees, homeless, youth, and persons living with HIV and AIDS.

MARY F. MORTEN (1996): The first African American president of the 28 MOUNTAIN MOVING COFFEEHOUSE FOR WOMYN AND CHILDREN (1993): It is the oldest continuously- running, women-only space in the country. For more than 25 years, it has presented lesbian-feminist–oriented culture and music. The collective is operated totally by volunteers and is open to any woman who wishes to participate.

IFTI NASIM (1996): Born in Pakistan, he wrote Narman, an award-winning book of poetry in Urdu—said to be the first direct statement of “gay” longings and desires ever published in that language. Its publication required courage, met with revilement but critical acclaim, and inspired other Pakistani poets. He cofounded Sangat/Chicago and has been president of the South Asian Performing Arts Council of America.

DAWN CLARK NETSCH (1995): She was selected as a “Friend of the Community” for her long career of public service as constitution writer, legislator, and state comptroller, especially her support of lesbian and gay rights and of efforts against HIV/AIDS.

CHARLOTTE NEWFELD (1996): A well-known civic activist and a tenacious advocate for gay and lesbian Chicagoans since the early 1970s, this “Friend of the Community” lobbied for city and county human rights ordinances, for a mayoral liaison and committee on gay and lesbian issues, and for an increased city AIDS budget. She led the Lake View Citizens’ Council’s board in support of a domestic partnership ordinance in 1996. For more than 20 years she has urged and actively backed gay and lesbian political participation.

RENAE OGLETREE (1998): She has engaged in wide-ranging volunteer and professional activities that have brought people together around issues of diversity, development, and health care within Chicago’s gay and lesbian communities. She is a health care activist, a professional youth services executive, and cofounded and has cochaired Chicago Black Lesbians and Gays.

DEAN ROBERT OGREN (1998): He is an exemplar volunteer who has tirelessly shared his talents with many organizations, including the NAMES Project, Open Hand Chicago, AIDS Walk Chicago, Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics, United Way, International Mr. Leather, and state Rep. Larry McKeon’s historic 1996 electoral campaign. He puts in more volunteer hours in a year than many do in a lifetime.

OPEN HAND CHICAGO (1994): Founded in 1988, it became Chicago’s only in-home meals program for persons living with AIDS and has served more than 3 million meals. It has expanded throughout the city, added other nutrition programs, and cooperated with other groups targeting specific ethnic populations.

DOM OREJUDOS (posthumous 1992): He was a dancer and choreographer with the Illinois Ballet Company for 15 years, a respected businessman, a major figure in founding the International Mr. Leather pageants, and an internationally known artist, famous for his male physique studies drawn under the name Etienne. Born in 1933, he died of AIDS complications in 1991.

29 JOSÉ (PEPIN) PENA (1995): As a pioneering video artist at Sidetrack, he has created a unique style of showtune entertainment in a bar environment for thousands of Chicagoans and visitors to enjoy as they grow communally. With his business and domestic partner, he has also made the bar into a source of political and financial support for AIDS work and lesbian and gay rights efforts.

ADRENE PEROM (1999, now deceased): She was a “Friend of the Community” whose North Side gay bar, Big Red’s, nurtured Chicago institutions in their development during the 1970s and 1980s. She sponsored sports teams that were supportive social milieux for hundreds, held countless fund-raisers, collaborated with other business owners, and helped to start and supported Chicago House. Born in 1935, she died in 2000.

RICHARD W. PFEIFFER (1993): For more than 25 years he has been an activist and organizational volunteer. He headed the Chicago Gay Alliance (which ran the city’s first community center) and founded the Gay Activists Coalition (the first gay and lesbian organization at a City Colleges of Chicago campus). He is best known for leading PrideChicago, which facilitates the annual gay and lesbian pride parade.

MARY D. POWERS (1992): She was recognized as a “Friend of the Community” for her 30 years of commitment in addressing abusive police behavior and being a consistent advocate for gay and lesbian rights both in civil society and in her church as a Roman Catholic.

QUEER NATION CHICAGO (1995): As a direct-action group supporting those who are bisexual, gay, lesbian, or transgendered (collectively, queer), it developed test cases under nondiscrimination ordinances, mounted public protests and commemorations, and sponsored an annual antiviolence march.

CHARLES “CHUCK” RENSLOW (1991): In the early 1960s he opened the Gold Coast leather bar, one of the first openly gay businesses in Chicago. He also published GayLife, financially aided many gay rights efforts of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and has been active in city, state, and national Democratic Party politics. He cofounded the International Mr. Leather contest and set up the Leather Museum and Archives.

LINDA S. RODGERS (1993): As a successful businesswoman, fundraiser, and activist, she combined her business acumen and community consciousness to promote projects and political actions in support of lesbian and gay human rights and community needs. She now lives in Florida.

RON SABLE, M.D. (1993, now deceased): As an openly gay physician he cofounded the first comprehensive HIV/AIDS clinic at Cook County Hospital. He was active in local politics, running as an openly gay candidate for 44th Ward alderman and founding IMPACT, a gay and lesbian political action committee. He died in 1993 of AIDS complications.

TIFFANI ST. CLOUD (1996): By age 18 in 1996, she had become a chief motivating force behind formation of the Pride group at Chicago’s Whitney 30 NORMAN L. SANDFIELD (1999): For more than 20 years, he has been an organizer of gay and lesbian Jewish activities and of Jewish AIDS programs in Chicago and internationally as part of his membership in Chicago’s Congregation Or Chadash. He cofounded the Jewish AIDS Network–Chicago and has worked on interfaith relations.

BRUCE C. SCOTT (1993): He has been a Chicago resident for more than 50 years and successfully fought federal anti-gay employment policies in groundbreaking lawsuits. In a 1965 decision with far-reaching implications, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled that a vague charge of “homosexuality” could not disqualify one from federal government jobs. He was also an early officer of Mattachine Midwest.

GREGG SHAPIRO (1999): He is both a literary figure and a music and literary critic. Besides writing his own poetry and fiction, he has fostered awareness of Chicago’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender literary excellence. His expertise in popular music is widely recognized.

HELEN SHILLER (2000): She was inducted as a “Friend of the Community”for more than 30 years as a progressive activist and for service as 46th Ward alderman since 1987, during which periods she has often advocated for sexual-minority communities and for persons living with HIV and AIDS.

DAVID B. SINDT (posthumous 1995): In the 1970s and 1980s, he fought homophobia in civil and religious societies. As a social worker, he advocated for gay parents and gay children. As a minister, he formed what became Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns but later had to leave the ministry because of gayness. Born in 1940, he died of AIDS complications in 1986. His house became the first Chicago House–owned residence.

NORM SLOAN (1996): Since 1988, as a volunteer registrar, he has registered at least 38,000 voters. In some weeks, he has registered as many as 1,000 or 2,000. He helped to form the Lesbian and Gay Progressive Democratic Organization and later has worked through Equality Illinois. He also gives volunteer aid to Chicago dance and theater efforts.

ADRIENNE J. SMITH, Ph.D. (1991, now deceased): She was one of the first openly lesbian psychologists within the American Psychological Association. She wrote and edited several publications and appeared on local and national television and radio programs promoting gay and lesbian rights. Born in 1934, she died of cancer in 1992.

ARMANDO L. SMITH (1995): A licensed clinical social worker, he has worked in community-based organizations for more than 20 years and is a mainstay of Chicago lesbian, gay, and AIDS groups. He has led Horizons Community Services’ telephone helpline, has headed the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Service Providers Council, and has served on numerous boards including that of Kupona Network.

JAMES MONROE SMITH (1995): As a quietly persistent young lawyer, in 31 MAXSONN “MAX” C. SMITH (1991): He has been active in addressing political and social hostility toward the African American gay and lesbian community. He has been a contributor to numerous publications, including BLK and Blacklight.

DANIEL SOTOMAYOR (posthumous 1992): He was an openly gay, nationally syndicated political cartoonist and prominent Chicago AIDS activist. He died of AIDS complications in 1992.

GREGORY A. SPRAGUE (posthumous 1994): Nationally known for research in Chicago lesbian and gay history, he cofounded the Committee on Lesbian and Gay History of the American Historical Association and was active in the Gay Academic Union. In 1978 he founded the Chicago Gay History Project, a precursor of the Gerber/Hart Library.

MARGE SUMMIT (1993): As a successful businesswoman, she has contributed time, energy, and resources to numerous community organizations. She was a founder of the Chicago chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), appeared in several video projects, and initiated the “Gay $” project.

VALERIE TAYLOR (1992, now deceased): Born in 1913, she was an outspoken advocate of lesbian and gay concerns from the 1950s onward and wrote several lesbian-themed novels and poems. She edited the Mattachine Midwest Newsletter while in Chicago and was active in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Retired in Tucson, she was writing and active in social change until her 1997 death.

ELIZABETH E. TOCCI (1994): She opened her first gay bar in 1963 and, beginning in 1971, owned and ran The Patch in Calumet City, which became one of the oldest lesbian-owned establishments in the nation. She is active in local business circles and has long given financial aid and a supportive environment to lesbian and gay persons.

JOANNE E. TRAPANI (1993): After a decade of New York City political activism, she cochaired the Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force for several terms, and she has served as liaison to state and local governments and agencies. In 1997 she became a member of the Oak Park village board as the first open lesbian elected to office in Illinois, and in 2001 Oak Park voters elected her as village board president.

THOMAS M. TUNNEY (1995): In his early 20s he bought Lake View’s venerable Ann Sather Restaurant in 1981, expanded it, and has made it into a virtual community center for lesbian and gay Chicagoans and for older adults. He has been active in neighborhood business groups, IMPACT, Human Rights Campaign, and the Democratic Party. Besides backing Open Hand Chicago’s home-meals program and running a soup kitchen, he has hosted countless gay and lesbian efforts and the White Crane Wellness Center.

RICHARD B. TURNER (1991): He was cofounder and national president of Funders Concerned About AIDS and later became director and senior program 32 RENE A. VAN HULLE, JR. (2000): Since the 1970s, he has been vigorously active in community organizations and instrumental in many of their fund- raising projects. He cofounded the Tavern Guild of Chicago and for years helped to raise community center funds, sponsored sports teams, and supported Chicago House.

LUULE VESS (1998): By founding Project VIDA in 1992, she took the battle against HIV and AIDS far from the lakefront to the streets of Chicago’s low- income South Lawndale neighborhood. Project VIDA has won awards and has quickly grown into a major lesbigay-friendly AIDS service provider. Earlier, she helped to develop a Cook County Hospital substance abuse program for homeless, HIV-positive injection drug users.

STEVEN F. WAKEFIELD (1994): He has held gay and lesbian executive positions since 1976, including leadership of Howard Brown Memorial Clinic until 1988. He later directed Test Positive Aware Network and the Night Ministry; was a leader in many social service and religious organizations, including several African American ones; and served on the Chicago Board of Health. In 2000, he moved to Seattle, where he directs community education for an HIV vaccine trial program.

AL WARDELL (1993, now deceased): From 1978, he was a prominent Chicago gay and lesbian community leader and a mainstay of the Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He helped to initiate the first sensitivity training on gay and lesbian concerns for the Chicago Police Department and developed gay and lesbian counseling materials for Illinois public schools. Born in 1944, he died in 1995.

JESSE WHITE (1999): This “Friend of the Community” is a longtime Chicago political figure and African American community leader whose support for lesbian and gay rights is part of supporting equal rights for all. In 1974, he became a state legislator and backed bills against sexual-orientation discrimination and hate crimes. He continued to uphold sexual-minority rights as Cook County recorder of deeds and now does so as Illinois secretary of state.

PHILL WILSON (1999): A Chicago native, he has achieved national prominence as an advocate for persons with AIDS, particularly those of color. He has served as an innovative executive in Los Angeles AIDS agencies and has made many national media appearances. He also helped to found and cochaired the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum.

ISRAEL WRIGHT (2000): For more than 20 years, he has held volunteer leadership posts in business, social service, cultural, AIDS, and African American organizations. His photographs of community life, including the lives of leathermen, African Americans, and persons with AIDS, have been widely published.

YVONNE ZIPTER (1995): A syndicated columnist, she has often documented the lives of Chicago lesbians and gay men. An award-winning poet, humorist, and essayist, she wrote a book on lesbian softball, Diamonds Are a Dyke’s Best Friend, as well as The Patience of Metal and Ransacking the Closet. 33 NOTES AND AUTOGRAPHS

34 NOTES AND AUTOGRAPHS

35 NOTES AND AUTOGRAPHS

36 MAJOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Sponsors Buddies' Restaurant and Bar Chicago Department of Public Health Ketel One Vodka Supporters The Alley CellBlock Newsweb Corporation Sidetrack Friends Broadway Vitamins El Jardin Fireplace Inn Phil Hannema Lakefront Restaurant Little Jim’s Jill M. Metz Rosemary S. Mulryan Music Box Theatre Susan L. O’Dell, PH.D. The Playboy Foundation The Ram Mary M. York

37 SPECIAL THANKS

Jacqueline Anderson · Toni Armstrong Jr. · Tracy Baim John J. Balester · Lorrainne Sade Baskerville · Caryn Berman Blacklines · Blue Plate Catering · Bonaventure House · Patrick Bova David Boyer · Anthony Brizgys, D.V.D. · Broadway in Chicago George Brophy · Buddies’ Restaurant and Bar · James A. Bussen Carol Fox and Associates · Robert Castillo · Catalyst Promotions Cynthia Cato · Cellblock · RJ Chaffin · John Chester Chestnut Cleaning Service · Chicago Cultural Center Chicago Department of Public Health · Chicago Eagle Chicago Free Press · Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus Chicago Transit Authority · Chicago Trolley Company Gary G. Chichester · Tom Chiola · Ann Christophersen Christy Webber Landscapes · Rev. Ralph Conrad · Fred Cooper Corus Bank · Could It Be Magic · Court Theatre · Chuck Cox Mayor Richard M. Daley · James Darby · Jack Delaney Rev. Gregory Dell · Osvaldo del Valle · Jim Dohr · Thom Dombkowski Randy Duncan · Kathy Edens · Ron Ehemann · Keith Elliott Robert Klein Engler · En La Vida · Marty Enwright · Sara Feigenholtz Troy J. Ford · Joanne Gaddy · Gay Chicago Magazine · Rick Garcia Ralph Paul Gernhardt · Allen Glater, D.V.M. · boy danny glosser Brian Goeken · Richard Lee Gray · Vernita Gray · William W. Greaves Peg Grey · David Grooms · Arlene Halko · Joel Hall Halsted Street Beach · Phil Hannema · Jorjet Harper · Gregory Harris James B. Harvey · Sarah Lucia Hoagland · Michael Hemmes Henry Hampton Florists · Roger Hickey · Derrick A. Hicks 38 SPECIAL THANKS

Sherri Logan Hicks · Chuck Hyde · Israel Wright Photographs, Inc. Susan Jaffe · Arthur Johnston · Rick Karlin · Nancy Katz Corinne Kawecki · William B. Kelley · Ketel One Vodka Billie Jean King · Kit Kat Club · Dorothy Klefstad · Walter Klingler Danny Kopelson · Marie Kuda · Lambda Publications · Paul Lopez Mail Boxes Etc. (3712 N. Broadway) · Patricia S. McCombs Larry McKeon · McKillip Animal Hospital · Harley McMillen MindX · Tony Midnite · Mary F. Morten · Naked Boys Singing Mark Nagel · Ifti Nasim · Dawn Clark Netsch · Charlotte A. Newfeld New Town Writers · Nightlines · Northwestern Chrysler-Plymouth Renae Ogletree · Dean Ogren · Outlines · PagesArt · Jerry Pagorek Pepe Pena · John Pennycuff · Richard Pfeiffer · John Prather · Print It Commissioner Mike Quigley · Ragin’ RaeJean’s · The Ram Ravinia Festival · Leslie Reambeault · Kasey Reese Chuck Renslow · Rick Aguilar Photographer · Laura A. Rissover RJ's Video · Roscoe’s Tavern Royal Imperial Sovereign Barony of the Windy City, Inc., NFP Norman L. Sandfield · Michael Schumann Sherwin-Williams Company · Michael Shimandle · Gregg Shapiro Catherine Sikora · Sidetrack · Kevin Stankewicz Terry Gaskins Photography · Kevin F. Thompson Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding · Brad Tucker · Modesto “Tico” Valle Rene Van Hulle, Jr. · Shelton R. Watson · Earl L. Welther Windy City Times · Commissioner Clarence N. Wood · Tim Zembek Yvonne Zipter

39 SPECIAL ASSISTANCE FOR THIS EVENING WAS PROVIDED BY

Nicole Brandenburg Blue Plate Catering Catalyst Promotions Cynthia Cato Chicago Commission on Human Relations Gary G. Chichester Chuck Cox The Office of Mayor Richard M. Daley Kathy Edens William W. Greaves Phil Hannema Henry Hampton Florists Sherri Logan Hicks Chuck Hyde Susan Jaffe William B. Kelley Mary F. Morten Dean Ogren David Ortega Print It! Kasey Reese Laura A. Rissover Sidetrack Kevin Stankewicz Commissioner Clarence N. Wood

and the staff of the Chicago Cultural Center

40 CITY OF CHICAGO COMMISSION ON HUMAN RELATIONS ADVISORY COUNCIL ON GAY AND LESBIAN ISSUES as of October 2001

Gary G. Chichester Osvaldo del Valle Troy J. Ford James B. Harvey William B. Kelley Damon Marquis Gerardo Montemayor John P. Pennycuff Leslie Reambeault Kasey Reese Laura A. Rissover Council Chairperson

Catherine Sikora John Spitzig Shelton R. Watson City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues 740 North Sedgwick Street, 3rd Floor Chicago, Illinois 60610